Minnesota Senator and superdelegate, Amy Klobuchar, declared for Obama last night.
Politico's Avi Zenilman takes a look at the rest, which way they're leaning, and who they are. He divides them into six groups: Crypto Obamans, Throwbacks, Parochials, Nail Biters, Strong and Silents, and Unknowns.
A sampling:
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi [Crypto-Obaman]: Though she has been careful not to endorse either candidate, Pelosi is widely believed to be a secret admirer of Obama. Tea leaf readers point to her call for the superdelegates to follow the pledged delegate leader — almost certain to be Obama. Her recent contretemps with Clinton donors has only hardened the perception that her affinity is for the Illinois senator.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn [Throwback]: “I think that the historical significance of so-called superdelegates — these are unpledged delegates — is very, very important for us to maintain,” the House whip told NPR in February. “We are in place in order to either extend the wishes of the voters or to try to make corrections if they need to be made.”
North Carolina DNC Committeeman David Parker [Parochial]: Parker told The News & Observer that one important factor in his decision will be the extent to which each candidate helps with down-ballot races in his state.
Florida Rep. Tim Mahoney [Nail Biter]: George W. Bush carried his district twice, so Mahoney needs to be far more circumspect than the typical superdelegate. In fact, the freshman Democrat told a local newspaper, “I have better things to do in my district” than go out to Denver for the party convention.
Former Vice President Al Gore [Strong and Silent]: Many believe he’s a crypto-Obaman, especially now that he is openly talking about how the race will resolve itself soon. But as a Democratic solon diminished by his endorsement of Howard Dean in the 2004 race, he’s in no hurry.
Then there's the interesting category of "unknowns" that we tend to forget about, even though there's quite a bunch of 'em. Who are they?
These are the superdelegates who aren’t yet superdelegates. This group includes individuals who will fill vacancies in Congress before the convention takes place, and the remaining add-on delegates who will be selected by state party committees and conventions over the next few months. The exact number is unknown, but it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 75 superdelegates.
So these superdelegates aren’t exactly undecided. Rather, it’s undecided who they are.
Bottom line: we turn to Donald Rumsfeld for advice.
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
In short:
I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.
Om.
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